Public Cloud - why?

The Investment Report 2022 of the German-speaking SAP User Group e. V. (DSAG) said that S/4 Cloud plays a rather subordinate role compared to on-prem installations. Only six percent of respondents use S/4 as a private cloud solution and two percent as a public cloud solution. In addition, the investment report revealed that knowledge about Rise with SAP is still expandable. 60 percent of respondents have heard of it, but are not yet familiar with the offering. With this low level of acceptance for the S/4 cloud solution, the question of why is naturally justified.

One answer is provided by the current E-3 cover story June 2022 in cooperation with SAP partner GIB, part of the ifm group of companies. It presents a public cloud solution based on S/4 and a procurement solution from GIB. Both providers and users see considerable advantages in this constellation. However, those responsible at GIB, in collaboration with SAP, still see the solution as a pilot project that can be expanded. If providers and users agree on the goals, then SAP's public cloud can be a mutual success despite the lack of an exit strategy. At the current time, however, the step into the public cloud must be understood as an ERP experiment, because functions and long-term concepts regarding licenses and prices are still missing. Not every existing SAP customer wants this dependency on the ERP world market leader.